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19 Apr 2006 : Column 665W—continued
Ministerial Activities
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) public speeches and (b) official visits she has made since 5 May 2005; and how many letters she sent in this period. [55712]
Ruth Kelly: Between 5 May 2005 and 2 March 2006, I have made 49 public speeches, been on 49 official visits and replied to 2,014 letters.
All official speeches and visits are conducted in accordance with the ministerial code.
Overseas Universities
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many English students have travelled outside the UK for university education in each of the last 10 years. [62987]
Bill Rammell: The latest available information is given in the table. Comparable figures for students who study the whole of their course overseas are not held centrally.
(4) The figures up to 2001/02 include students on exchange schemes which involve studying abroad for the whole of the year; students studying abroad for part of the year, or studying abroad on non-exchange schemes are excluded. Figures for 2002/03 and later years include all students on study years abroad for all or part of the year, except those on industrial placements.
Note:
Figures are based on a snapshot count of students at 1 December in each academic year.
Source:
Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). Figures have been rounded to the nearest 5.
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Rawtenstall Campus
Janet Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will investigate the sale of the Rawtenstall campus site by Accrington and Rossendale college; and whether she is satisfied the college has achieved best value as required by the Learning and Skills Council. [63782]
Bill Rammell: The capital disposal receipt generated from the sale of Accrington and Rossendale College's Rawtenstall site was less than 5 per cent. of the college's annual turnover.
Under the terms of the Learning and Skills Council's (LSC) financial memorandum with the college, this sale, as a result of its value, did not require LSC consent. It is therefore the responsibility of the college and its corporation to ensure that it has achieved best value when disposing of its Rawtenstall campus.
Student Discipline
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many recorded incidents of antisocial behaviour took place in universities in (a) Havering, (b) Greater London and (c) England in each of the last 10 years. [62983]
Bill Rammell: Information on the incidence of antisocial behaviour at higher education institutions is not collected centrally.
Sure Start/Children's Centres
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what services are provided by children's centres; and if she will make a statement. [63991]
Beverley Hughes: Sure Start Children's Centres deliver a range of integrated services to children under five and their families including health and family support services and advice and support for the unemployed through effective links with Jobcentre Plus. Those children's centres located in the 30 per cent. most disadvantaged areas must also provide integrated early learning and daycare.
At 31 March 2006 there were 836 Sure Start Children's Centres. All are located in the 30 per cent. most disadvantaged areas bringing integrated services to around 657,000 children under five and their families. We have exceeded our target agreed in the 2002 Spending Review which was to enable 650,000 children to access children's centre services by that date.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the total expenditure on (a) Sure Start and (b) Children's Centres was in each year since 2001–02; what expenditure is planned in each category in each year to 2008–09; and if she will make a statement. [63986]
Bill Rammell:
Details of actual and planned expenditure on Sure Start, childcare and nursery education to 2007–08 are published in Table 12.2 of the Department for Education and Skills' Departmental Report (Cm 6522). To reflect the increasing integration
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of services for young children and families, from 2003–04 funding for childcare and nursery education was merged into Sure Start funding:
| Financial Year | Sure Start | Childcare | Nursery Education | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001–02 | 134 | 109 | 224 | 467 |
| 2002–03 | 216 | 158 | 306 | 680 |
| 2003–04(5) | 721 | 721 | ||
| 2004–05(6) | 927 | 927 | ||
| 2005–06 | 1,140 | 1,140 | ||
| 2006–07 | 1,696 | 1,696 | ||
| 2007–08 | 1,809 | 1,809 |
(5) From 2003–04, all funding to deliver the free nursery education entitlement was incorporated into what is now called the Early Years element of the of the Dedicated Schools' Grant (formerly known as the under 5 sub-block for the Education Formula Spending Share).
(6) Outturn in DfES Resource Accounts 2004–05 (HC 686)
Within the Sure Start budget, increasing amounts of money have been allocated to local authorities to help establish our network of Children's Centres, delivering a wide range of early learning, childcare, health and family support. The delivery of 1st phase Children's Centres began in 2003–04 with £1.9 million revenue and £2.2 million capital being spent by local authorities on Children's Centres in that year. For the period 2004–06, the memorandum of grant letter to all local authorities allocated £111 million revenue and £315 million capital over the two year period to continue the delivery of phase 1 Children's Centres. In addition to this funding, we allocated £313 million capital to Sure Start local programmes (SSLP) in 2004–06 and we expect that this budget would have been largely used to facilitate the evolution for all SSLPs to become Children's Centres.
For 2006–08, we have streamlined the majority of funding streams within the General Sure Start Grant (GSSG) to give local authorities more flexibility in facilitating local childcare markets and developing early years and childcare services to deliver the Ten Year Childcare Strategy. The GSSG main revenue and capital allocations are £596 million and £421 million in 2006/07 and £664 million and £392 million in 2007/08. The GSSG allocations are for local authorities to fund children centres and provide support for extended schools and sustainable early years and childcare provision to meet parental demand for childcare in their local areas. Local authorities have the freedom to decide how much they wish to spend on each area based on the knowledge of their local market.
Allocations from 2008 onwards will only be announced in the comprehensive spending Review 2007.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what monitoring of the effectiveness of Sure Start is being undertaken; and if she will make a statement. [64001]
Beverley Hughes:
There is a comprehensive national level evaluation of Sure Start local programmes in place which began in January 2001, which will run until 2008. It examines the implementation, cost-effectiveness and impact of Sure Start on children, families and communities, in the short, medium and long-term. Fifteen reports have been published to date which have
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been instrumental in understanding what is effective for young children and families, and in designing and rolling out Sure Start children's centres.
Training Schools
Ms Angela C. Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many schools in the (a) primary and (b) secondary sector will lose their designation as training schools in 2007. [63673]
Bill Rammell: From 2005, participation in the training schools programme is open to schools that successfully redesignate and meet the high performing specialist schools criteria.
Seven secondary schools which redesignated in 2005 did not meet the criteria and have been told that their funding will cease when their current contract comes to an end in 2007. A further tranche of secondary schools will redesignate in 2006 and we do not yet know how many of these will meet the necessary criteria.
Those training schools that are not yet specialist have been told that they should aim to become specialist schools before their contract expires.
We are considering with the Training and Development Agency (TDA) how to retain in the system the expertise built up by existing training schools.
Primary schools will no longer be able to apply directly for training school status, but the TDA are currently considering the development of a primary initiative.
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